Travel Makes Us Happy

At the conclusion of a recent Intelligence Squared Asia debate on whether "Money Can't Buy Happiness," the audience was split -- 49% agreed and 49% disagreed, with 2% undecided.

But when it came to travel, there was one very obvious winning premise -- travel makes us all happy.

As a luxury travel planner, I thought it was pretty obvious: travel makes us happy, but one needs money to buy wondrous, inspiring travel experiences. Ergo, money can buy happiness.

Experiential travel is about presenting the customer with the surprise of the "unknown," the luxury of "unexpected choices" and the empowerment of "overcoming hurdles" (such as scaling a peak) so that he feels he has completed a "journey towards self-actualization."

Travel makes us happy, because it promises us the self-discovery needed to reach the human hierarchy of needs.

Travel Agencies as life improvers

I think Travel agencies would be wiser to ask us what we hope to change about our lives rather than simply where we wish to go.

Who needs to spend hours on a boring couch and oodles of cash at the office when one can spend that time and money on a much more pleasurable trip to Birmingham, London, Paris, and Dubai, London Heathrow, Rome, Italy, Turkey, Istanbul, Pakistan and all over the world by using Different Airlines like PIA, Turkish, Emirates, Qatar, Lufthansa, Oman, Air India etc.

Travel makes us happy, because it offers us the opportunity to step outside our well-worn, self-constructed, plebian realities and provides a platform to explore and practice our ideal visions for ourselves -- who we might be if we weren't married to our fears and anxieties about safety, security and status. And Pak Travels Provides all Security and safety during travel. Pak Travels is a Company Who provides all Services in a very low rate

Travel can be a savior

Travel can be more satisfying when combined with giving back.

But then, as the years came and went, as the author Dr. Stefan Klein explains, I adapted to those happy experiences.

Something is wondrous only in so far as it is surprising to the senses. And then I remembered another inspiring aspect of my trip to Kenya -- the joy of interacting with Masai schoolchildren, seeing their smiles as we gave them books and stationery.

We are social beings, as the philosopher A.C. Grayling reminds; we derive more happiness from giving than receiving.

Giving and helping make us feel good about ourselves. And so now we are starting to see a boom in experiential travel that helps satisfy philanthropic urges and our sense of do-goodness with sustainable, eco-friendly travel products.

One of the central arguments for money not being able to buy happiness was the research that affluent countries such as the United States have not reported higher levels of happiness to match its growth in GDP. But that makes sense if we are constantly adapting to our higher levels of happiness.

Yet, it is this constant resetting of our internal happiness scale that's driving affluent travelers to seek more happiness and welfare-inducing experiences.

As the upcoming Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Congress in Singapore is touting, travel has the power "to foster a sustainable future in Asia," and no doubt the world.

If travel can save us, no doubt it can make us happy.

Philosophers and scientists on whether travel makes us happy

Does travel make you happy? "The pleasures of discovery, the joy of meeting people from other backgrounds and finally the thrill of tasting food I would not get at home usually far exceed all strains of traveling."

Professor A. C. Grayling, author of "Thinking of Answers: Questions in the Philosophy of Everyday Life"
Does travel make you happy? "Yes, because travel expands the mind and spirit, is educative, and puts one in touch with new people and ideas. The places that make me happy are great cities with vibrant culture, and beautiful countryside."

Lu Ping, diplomat and writer

Does travel make you happy? "Very much so. Most of the places I travel to make me very happy. My eyes are refreshed and my spirit renewed by the scenery of places such as Angkor Wat.

"Places like Palestine, however, make me decidedly unhappy. I was there 10 years ago and the entangled political situation with no easy solution was depressing. Tibet is another place I am obsessed with and, though I love the place, the circumstances of the people make my heart ache."

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